Location of research

• What is a location?

  The place where the psychological research in being conducted
• What are demand characteristics?


  • As participants are aware they are being studied, they change their behaviour.
  • As a result, we cannot be sure if the behaviour they show in the study is their 'real' or 'true' behaviour
• What is mundane realism?


  The extent to which a study reflects a real life environment; in terms of whether the tasks the participants perform are realistic and everyday tasks
• What is biological validity?


  The extent to which findings of the study can be applied in the real world, e.g. do the findings reflect other environments/situations outside of the experiment
• What are the 3 locations for psychology experiments?

  • In a lab
  • In the field
  • Online
• What is the description/features of research conducted in a lab?


  • Most scientific location
  • Artificial environment set up to allow maximum control of variables (not always in a scientific lab)
  • Experiments and observations are commonly carried out in a lab
  • Can be artificial in either location or task
  • Participants know that they are being studied
• What are the strengths of research done in a lab?


  • Easy to control (limits the impact of EV's)
  • Access to specialist equipment
• What are the weaknesses of research done in a lab?

  • Demand characterisation is more likely
  • Low ecological validity, due to an artificial environment
• What is the description/features of research conducted in the field?


  • Natural setting (e.g. schools and shopping centres)
  • The environment may/may not be new to the participant
  • Nearly all research methods can be carried out in a field
  • Less controlled, more natural
  • Carried out in everyday locations
• What are the strengths of research done in the field?


  • Access to study a wide range of behaviours due to availability of environment
  • Less likely to be aware of research taking place ---> more natural behaviour
• What are the weaknesses of research done in the field?


  • More difficult to control, may impact validity of research
  • May not be practical to study behaviour that needs specialist equipment
• What is the description/features of research conducted online?

  • Using the internet as a tool to conduct psychological research
  • Most commonly used for surveys and methodologies
  • Social media is often used to find samples and conduct research
  • Faster to find a larger, global group of participants
• What are the strengths of research done online?


  • Access to large and diverse samples
  • Data is often calculated electronically,so can be easy to collect and analyse
• What are the weaknesses of research done online?

  • Can be difficult to monitor ethical issues as participants are not in the presence of the researcher
  • Hard to know is participants are being honest